Introduction
Last week an article in the Wall Street Journal reflected on our need for hope. The author attended a “new age” type church service in which participants wrote their regrets and failures on pieces of flash paper. (Flash paper is specially treated to ignite and burn instantly and brightly). Then they brought these “sins” to the front altar, set them to a candle, and watched them vanish in an instant as they put behind them last year’s failures. This was a new year, filled with possibility. The author explained that he expected to have the same struggles at the end of 2007, in spite of having burned them; nevertheless, he thoroughly enjoyed the exercise because it filled him with hope and optimism that this might be the year in which he actually changed.
Halford E. Luccock, in his book, Unfinished Business, describes a man who lived many years in Maine. At dinner one night, he fascinated his companions by telling his experiences in a little town named Flagstaff. The town was to be flooded, as a the government built a large dam. In the months and years during dam construction, all improvements and repairs in the town were stopped. Why paint your house if it is to be covered with water in six months? Why repair anything when the whole village is to be wiped out? Week by week, the town fell apart as if abandoned. “Where there is no hope for the future, there is no power in the present.”
We need hope to press on. Not surprisingly, the Bible connects hope and perseverance. Hope sustains when circumstances clamor for us to give up. But from where will we get hope? From burning our sins? Probably not. Instead, hope comes from knowing that God is powerfully working all things for our good and into his perfect plan.
Surely one of the most hope-giving verses in the Bible is Philippians 4.13: “I can do all things though Christ who strengthens me.” God works powerfully in us as we believe his promises and depend on his grace. As we begin our ministry together, I want us to be filled with hope. That requires faith that God is for us and that we can do all he is calling us to do, through Christ, who gives us strength. In these 18 verses, I see at least nine hope-giving truths to enjoy this morning.
[Before we begin, however, I want to note that one complaint I have heard often is when pastors try to probe deep theology without giving practical application. This prologue to the book of John is depth upon depth. So I have taken each point and phrased it as statement of applied theology. We will not cover all nine this morning. Hopefully the outline will direct your own continued meditation on the relationship between Christ, power, and hope.]
1. Because Christ is Eternal, We Hope in His Lasting Power (John 1.1a)
John intentionally draws our hearts and minds to the opening words of the Bible: Genesis 1.1: “In the beginning, God created….” According to Genesis, only one person existed before creation: God. John wants you to know that Jesus is God. God alone is without beginning and without end; and God includes God the Word, who came to earth. Notice how verses one and fourteen fit together: “In the beginning was the Word…. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
Jesus Christ – the one crucified, dead and buried, who rose again and ascended into heaven – this Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the one who is, and who was, and who is to come (Revelation 1.8). “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1.17). Heaven and earth will be destroyed; Christ lasts. Hebrews 1.11-12: “He is the same and his years have no end.” Thus John the Baptist notes in verse 15: “He who comes after me ranks above me, because he was before me.”
Christ is eternal! Thus his power, which strengthens you to do God’s will, is a lasting power – it never fades. His powerful working in and for you never fails!
Frederick Faber, a Calvinist Anglican pastor in the mid-1800s, wrote a poem which applies some of this splendid truth to our souls, “The Eternity of God.”
v. 2: Dear Lord! my heart is sick
Of this perpetual lapsing time,
So slow in grief, in joy so quick,
Yet ever casting shadows so sublime:
Time of all creatures is least like to Thee,
And yet it is our share of Thine eternity.
v.4: Weak, weak, for ever weak!
We cannot hold what we possess;
Youth cannot find, age will not seek,—
Oh weakness is the heart’s worst weariness:
But weakest hearts can lift their thoughts to Thee;
It makes us strong to think of Thine eternity.
v.6: Without an end or bound
Thy life lies all outspread in light;
Our lives feel Thy life all around,
Making our weakness strong, our darkness bright;
Yet is it neither wilderness nor sea,
But the calm gladness of a full eternity.
v.7: Oh Thou art very great
To set Thyself so far above!
But we partake of Thine estate,
Established in Thy strength and in Thy love:
That love hath made eternal room for me
In the sweet vastness of its own eternity.
v.8: Oh Thou art very meek
To overshade Thy creatures thus!
Thy grandeur is the shade we seek;
To be eternal is Thy use to us:
Ah, Blessed God! what joy it is to me
To lose all thought of self in Thine eternity.
The power of Christ remains forever and ever. So when God reminds us that “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion…” you know you have strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow! Because Christ is eternal, we hope in his lasting power.
2. Because Christ is Divine, We Hope in His Invincible Power (John 1.1)
This sentence perfectly insists that the Word is fully God. Alister McGrath wrote: “God did not send a subordinate to redeem us. He chose to do it himself” (Knowing Christ). The baby born in Bethlehem is unique in all humanity, for he is God!
Christians have recited together the Nicene Creed for many centuries. It reminds us what must be believed about Jesus: “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.”
Now some of you might be thinking: hold on pastor! Surely you observe the darkness engulfing our world day-by-day. Why would you claim his power is invincible? How can we escape concluding that evil has the upper hand? We escape by seeing the promise in the Scriptures and the proof in our lives. First the promise.
Ephesians 1.16-21: “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”
A power invincible – able to raise the dead – is available for all who believe. Ephesians 3.20: Glory “to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us….” First, the promise of power invincible is clear in the Bible.
And second, are you not proof of its reality? Christ has changed you – how can we not be filled with hope?
My son has a favorite riddle about a father who offers his inheritance to the son that can fill a room with something which he purchases with only a few dollars. One boy buys feathers, but not enough to fill the room. Another buys straw, yet neither can he purchase enough. The third buys a candle and match and fills the room with light.
Darkness must flee before light and Christ is the divine light. At the cross he “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them.” Christ is divine, hope in his invincible power.
3. Because Christ is Distinct, We Hope in His Purifying Power (John 1.2)
After insisting that the Word is divine, John now explains that the Word is distinct from God the Father. The Word is God, but the Word does not exhaust all that God is. The Word is not less than God, but God is more than the Word. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This distinction is critical for both salvation and sanctification.
God’s nature is to be just – he must punish sin. The law demands it and the law reflects God’s character. God can no more lay aside the righteous requirements of the law than he can deny himself. Yet only God can pay the penalty for sin; only God can turn aside Holy wrath and reconcile mankind. How can he be both just and the justifier?
By the distinction of person. The Father judges sin, the Son is punished, and the Spirit unites the elect to Christ so we receive the effect of a penalty fully paid and with it freedom from the punishment for sin, the power of sin and (eventually) even the presence of sin.
This is precisely why almost all of our favorite Christmas carols speak not only of Christ’s birth, but of his death. There is no cradle without a cross. You were born to live; Jesus alone was born to die.
Ben Jonson, c. 1600: “A Hymn on the Nativity of My Saviour,” from A Sinner’s Sacrifice:
V.2: The Son of God, the eternal King, That did us all salvation bring, And freed the soul from danger; He whom the whole world could not take, The Word which heaven and earth did make, Was now laid in a manger.
v.3: The Father’s wisdom willed it so; The Son’s obedience knew no, “No”; Both wills were in one stature; And, as that wisdom had decreed, The Word was now made flesh indeed, And took on him our nature.
v.4: What comfort by him do we win, Who made himself the price of sin, To make us heirs of glory! To see this babe, all innocence, A martyr born in our defense: Can man forget this story?
We may be tempted to discouragement when looking on our faults and failures, our sins and shortcomings. But we can hope in God’s purifying power because the Son is distinct from the Father.
4. Because Christ is Creator, We Hope in His Purposeful Power (John 1.3)
When we see the immense suffering in our world, it is easy to feel despair. Our hearts cry: “Where is God and what is he doing?” Yet the incarnation dispels doubt by proving there is purpose behind all that happens. The Creator has entered his creation to ensure his purposes are fulfilled!
Ephesians 1 connects hope and purpose. Ephesians 1.4c-12: “In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”
God has a plan and purpose; his power ensures his will and purpose is carried out; and that gives persevering hope to the believer.
5. Because Christ is Life, We Hope in His Regenerating Power (John 1.4a,11-13)
No matter how dead people seem to be to the Word and work of God, Christ is the one who gives life to the dead!
6. Because Christ is the Light, We Hope in His Revealing Power (John 1.4-5,9-10)
Regardless of how blind and fumbling in the dark the world may be, Christ is the light who gives sight to the blind.
7. Because of Christ’s Glory, We Hope in His Perfect Power (John 1.14)
We have heard that absolute power corrupts absolutely, but Christ’s power is perfect because he is glory in human flesh. He has not sin nature to be corrupt. His power is always and perfectly for our good, even as it is for the Father’s glory.
8. Because Christ is the Truth, We Hope in His Freeing Power (John 1.14c,17)
Yes, the world is in bondage to lies. But Christ is the truth and brings freedom for captives.
9. Because Christ Is Full of Grace, We Hope in His Available Power (John 1.14c,16-17)
No, we do not deserve to have such wondrous and helpful and hope-giving power working on our behalf – but the work of Christ is all of grace – therefore it is available for us sinners.
10. Conclusion
Herbert Jackson taught in a seminary and in one of his classes he explained how, when he was a new missionary, he was assigned a car that would not start without being pushed. So for two years he always parked the car on a hill or left the engine running so that he could get it started.
When his assignment at that mission station came to an end, he was sent to the train station to pick the new missionary. Jackson proudly began to explain to this new fellow the procedure he had used for driving a car that would not start on its own. The new missionary, however, knew something about cars. He looked under the hood and said, “Why, Herb, I believe the only trouble is this loose starter cable.” He tightened the bolt, stepped in the car, pushed the switch, and the engine started.
The power for hope always has been available. Faith connects the power to our lives. Will we believe God and live lives of hope?
